Does the Presence of a General Counsel in Top Management Affect Audit Effort and Audit Outcomes?

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 39-59
Author(s):  
Marcus R. Brooks ◽  
Stephanie A. Hairston ◽  
Phillip Kamau Njoroge ◽  
Ji Woo Ryou
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Top Management ◽  
General Counsel ◽  
Audit Risk ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Audit Market ◽  
Reporting Process ◽  
Aggressive Financial Reporting

SYNOPSIS This study examines whether the presence of a general counsel (GC) in top management affects audit effort and audit outcomes. Hopkins, Maydew, and Venkatachalam (2015) find that firms with GCs in top management have lower financial reporting quality and tolerate more aggressive financial reporting practices, which likely influences audit risk. Given the GCs' influence on the financial reporting process, we posit that auditors of firms with GCs in top management increase the amount of effort they expend to provide reasonable assurance that financial statements are stated fairly. We find that the presence of GCs in firms' top management is positively associated with audit effort but does not directly affect the likelihood that these firms will receive unqualified audit opinions that contain explanatory language. Our findings suggest that GCs influence the external audit market by participating in the financial reporting process. JEL Classifications: M42. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text.

The Development of Accounting and Financial Reporting Practices in Sri Lanka: An Exploratory Investigation

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (02) ◽  
pp. 1950008
Author(s):  
Jayasinghe Hewa Dulige ◽  
Nadana Abayadeera ◽  
Muhammad Jahangir Ali ◽  
Paul Mather
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Political Interference ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Exploratory Investigation ◽  
Chartered Accountants

In this paper, we examine the factors that influence the development of accounting and reporting practices in Sri Lanka in the backdrop of its political and economic environment. We find that the early days of accounting in Sri Lanka were heavily influenced by the British colonial system. Subsequently, its greatest influence was derived from the regulatory and institutional framework backed by local and British professional accounting bodies. We also interview key stakeholders to draw insights on how the institutional factors contribute to the development of financial reporting in Sri Lanka. We discover that the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (ICASL) is a key player in developing and implementing accounting standards and the best financial reporting practices. We observe that although the Sri Lankan Government has undertaken many initiatives to improve the quality of financial reporting, monitoring and enforcing regulations remain weak partly due to political interference. Therefore, we suggest that strengthening the existing regulatory mechanisms will help to improve the reporting quality and build investor confidence.

scholarly journals Venture Capital and Financial Reporting in Newly Public Firms

2018 ◽  
pp. 411-429
Author(s):  
Lars Helge Hass ◽  
Monika Tarsalewska
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Real Earnings Management ◽  
Venture Capitalists ◽  
Public Firms ◽  
Reporting Practices

Financial intermediaries such as venture capitalists (VCs) not only provide financing, they also play an active role in firm governance and in financial practices before a firm goes public. Venture capitalists are actively engaged in monitoring and advising their portfolio firms. Thus, one also expects them to exert significant influence over the development of financial reporting practices. This chapter reviews recent literature and empirical evidence on VCs and financial reporting quality in newly public firms. It surveys the role of VCs in such activities as earnings management. In particular, it discusses how their monitoring activities and reputation can impact how their portfolio firms establish financial reporting practices. Subsequently, it also reviews the consequences of misreporting, and whether they affect VC behavior ex ante. Finally, the chapter uses recent data to provide empirical evidence on the effect of VCs on accrual and real earnings management.

Determinants and Market Consequences of Auditor Dismissals after Accounting Restatements

2013 ◽  
Vol 89 (3) ◽  
pp. 1051-1082 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen M. Hennes ◽  
Andrew J. Leone ◽  
Brian P. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Market Reaction ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Executive Turnover ◽  
Corporate Boards ◽  
External Auditors ◽  
Audit Market ◽  
Big 4 ◽  
Financial Restatements ◽  
Market Consequences

ABSTRACT This study examines the conditions under which financial restatements lead corporate boards to dismiss external auditors and how the market responds to those dismissal announcements. We find that auditors are more likely to be dismissed after more severe restatements but that the severity effect is primarily attributable to the dismissal of non-Big 4 auditors rather than Big 4 auditors. We also document that among corporations with Big 4 auditors, those that are larger and more complex operationally are less likely to dismiss their auditors. Combined, this evidence suggests that firms with higher switching costs and fewer replacement auditor choices are less likely to dismiss their auditors after a restatement, which is informative to the debates about the costs and benefits of mandatory auditor rotation and limited competition in the audit market. Additionally, we examine contemporaneous executive turnover and find evidence that boards view auditor dismissals as complementary rather than substitute responses to restatements. Finally, we investigate the market reaction to auditor dismissals after restatements. The market reaction to the dismissal is significantly more positive following more severe restatements (5.9 percent) relative to less severe restatements (0.6 percent) when the client engages a comparably sized auditor. This positive market reaction is consistent with firms restoring financial reporting credibility by replacing their auditors and highlights the important role that auditors play in the financial markets. Data Availability: Data are available from public sources indicated in the text.

An Examination of Corporate Tax Shelter Participants

2009 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
pp. 969-999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan J. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Abnormal Returns ◽  
Wealth Creation ◽  
Corporate Tax ◽  
Managerial Opportunism ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Tax Shelter ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
Tax Shelters ◽  
Aggressive Financial Reporting

ABSTRACT: Recent evidence suggests that corporate tax shelters have become important corporate instruments for reducing tax burden. Based on a sample of identified tax shelter participants, I develop a profile of the type of firm that likely engages in tax sheltering. The model detects tax shelter participants through the use of variables predicted to be either affected by or associated with tax sheltering. I find that firms actively engaged in tax sheltering exhibit larger ex post book-tax differences and more aggressive financial reporting practices. Using this model of tax shelter firm characteristics, I identify a broad sample of predicted tax shelter firms from the population of firms. I then examine whether tax sheltering is associated with wealth creation for shareholders or with managerial opportunism. I find that active tax shelter firms with strong corporate governance exhibit positive abnormal returns. This finding is consistent with tax sheltering being a tool for wealth creation in well-governed firms.

The Impact of Mandatory IFRS Adoption on Audit Fees: Theory and Evidence

2012 ◽  
Vol 87 (6) ◽  
pp. 2061-2094 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeong-Bon Kim ◽  
Xiaohong Liu ◽  
Liu Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
Financial Reporting Standards ◽  
Ifrs Adoption ◽  
Audit Fee ◽  
European Union Countries ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACT: This study examines the impact of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption on audit fees. We first build an analytical audit fee model to analyze the impact on audit fees for the change in both audit complexity and financial reporting quality brought about by IFRS adoption. We then test the model's predictions using audit fee data from European Union countries that mandated IFRS adoption in 2005. We find that mandatory IFRS adoption has led to an increase in audit fees. We also find that the IFRS-related audit fee premium increases with the increase in audit complexity brought about by IFRS adoption, and decreases with the improvement in financial reporting quality arising from IFRS adoption. Finally, we find some evidence that the IFRS-related audit fee premium is lower in countries with stronger legal regimes. Our results are robust to a variety of sensitivity checks. Data availability: Data are available from public sources identified in the paper.

Corporate General Counsel and Financial Reporting Quality

2015 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin J. Hopkins ◽  
Edward L. Maydew ◽  
Mohan Venkatachalam
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Financial Reporting Quality ◽  
General Counsel

scholarly journals General Counsel Prominence and Corporate Tax Policy

2015 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
John L. Abernathy ◽  
Thomas R. Kubick ◽  
Adi Masli
Keyword(s):  
Tax Policy ◽  
Top Management Team ◽  
Management Team ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Top Management ◽  
General Counsel ◽  
Corporate Tax ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Tax Aggressiveness

ABSTRACT Prior research provides evidence that individual executives have a significant effect on firm-level tax policy. Further research has shown that having a corporate general counsel (GC) in a firm's top management team (top five highest-paid executives) significantly affects a firm's accounting and disclosure practices. In this paper, we examine the role of the GC in corporate tax policy. Specifically, we use the ascension of the corporate GC to top management as the identifying event in which the role and influence of the corporate GC becomes more salient. We find strong evidence that GC ascension to top management is associated with an increase in tax aggressiveness, as evidenced by greater book-tax differences and a higher likelihood of engaging in tax shelter activities. Data Availability: Data are obtained from public sources identified in the paper.

The Role of Audit Firm Expertise and Knowledge Spillover in Mitigating Earnings Management through the Tax Accounts

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brant E. Christensen ◽  
Adam J. Olson ◽  
Thomas C. Omer
Keyword(s):  
Earnings Management ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Knowledge Spillover ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Audit Firm ◽  
Reporting Process ◽  
Materiality Thresholds ◽  
National Industry

ABSTRACT Tax-related accounts are complex and often the last accounts finalized in the financial reporting process. Accordingly, these accounts can be used as a “last-chance” earnings management tool (Dhaliwal, Gleason, and Mills 2004). We investigate the extent to which an audit firm's industry expertise constrains earnings management through the tax accounts. We find that national industry audit experts constrain earnings management through the tax accounts. We also find that audit firm tax expertise constrains earnings management through the tax accounts when the audit firm is not considered an industry audit expert. Finally, we find evidence that providing both audit and tax services facilitates a nonexpert firm's ability to constrain earnings management through the tax accounts, which suggests that knowledge spillover plays an important role in reducing “last-chance” earnings management. All findings hold among smaller clients and when the extent of earnings management is below quantitative materiality thresholds. Data Availability: All data are publicly available as noted in the text.

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